108 FISH AND FISHING IN SCOTLAND. 



the small rivers which descend from mountains, the upper waters 

 are the best for the angler, the size of the stream and of the fish 

 being * often in an inverse ratio. But, whether JOM fish a large 

 or small stream, see that the tackle be in good order, the reel 

 acting, and the line clear, the footing secure, with space to move 

 a step or two, before you spread your flies, or touch with the 

 minnow (the choicest of all bait) the whirling eddies of the tur- 

 bulent stream rolling rapidly into the linn, dark, smooth, and 

 deep. 



But the art of trolling with minnows for trout I shall reserve 

 for those streams and rivers in which I have angled with min- 

 nows. I wish to speak of nothing in which I have not been 

 engaged. I never fished the Gala with minnow. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE LEADER. 



To the eastward of the Gala, arising on the southern slopes of the 

 great mountain chain whence the Gala springs : from the summits 

 of the Soutra and Lammar Law, and draining the valleys which 

 stretch from the ridge of this great watershed, southward towards 

 the vale of Berwick, run the Leader and the Whitadder ; to 

 these I may add the Blackwater, the lonely Die, and the wild 

 and desolate Fastna. Of these I shall speak in succession, and 

 first of the Leader. The northern slope of these mountains, in 

 its eastern part, supplies the feeders of the Tyne, a stream I 

 have already described. The trout differ. In the Tyne, as we 

 have alread}'- seen (Part I., Chap. II.), they are, in many parts, 

 pink-coloured, and excellent to eat ; but in the southern waters, of 

 which I now write, they are, with some exceptions, white, soft, 

 and useless as food. Salmon and sea trout frequent both sets of 

 streams, and parr are found wherever salmon are. The contrary 

 of this has been asserted ;* but I feel certain of the fact that 



By my esteemed friend, Mr. Young, of Invershin. 



